


Lessons

by TolkienGirl



Series: All That Glitters Gold Rush!AU: The Full Series [186]
Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Foreshadowing, Gen, Surgery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-12
Updated: 2020-02-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:33:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22673359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TolkienGirl/pseuds/TolkienGirl
Summary: Oh, I say, I do not think I would ever be strong enough--
Relationships: Fingon | Findekáno & Maedhros | Maitimo, Gandalf | Mithrandir & Fingon | Findekáno
Series: All That Glitters Gold Rush!AU: The Full Series [186]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1300685
Comments: 3
Kudos: 21





	Lessons

_Keep your tools sharp_ , said Olorin. _Even butchers know better than to use a dull blade._

 _Oh_ , I say, _I do not think I would ever be strong enough--_

But soon I learn not to say things like this. I cannot be brilliant, and I cannot be dazzling. But I can be strong because it is a thing learned. I can train my body, and be quite stern with my childish mind.

 _When you begin to flatter yourself_ , Olorin says, _go home to bed._

No one has an easy time applying the blade. It would be vicious, to enjoy it. Yet, as I try to explain to my bored siblings (and my attentive cousin, mostly), one must also steel oneself against fear. One must understand the good, so as to do no harm--or at least, no harm in the balance of things. No harm greater than that which is carved wide or away.

_A doctor must act._

_Yes, cano. Else there'd be no blood left, what with all the letting._

I practice stitches on leather and cloth, and then on my own wounds. I have quite a number of wounds, because I am clumsy. If I were not, I pity whomever my first patient should be.

_So you must love cruelty a little, to cut open a man, Maitimo says, with a sideways grin._

_No!_

_Ah, ah. That is what you were saying._

I try to explain _._


End file.
